


Healing the Broken Heart

by Anxious_pineapple



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Light Angst, Metallo Lena Luthor, Mind Control, Protective Kara Danvers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24085594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anxious_pineapple/pseuds/Anxious_pineapple
Summary: AU where Kara is too late to save Lena and she gets turned into Metallo by Lillian.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 90





	Healing the Broken Heart

She’s too late. 

The missile explodes and knocks her to the ground, and she’s not fast enough getting back up to stop the plane from going down. 

Her dazed eyes briefly meet Lena’s before she passes out. 

Lena is pulled from the helicopter by goons her mother hired. 

They take her back to a warehouse and begin turning her into metallo. 

“It is the only way to save your life, dear,” Lillian says calmly stroking Lena’s hair as she is strapped down to the operating table and cut open. 

Kara wakes up and freaks out. 

“I’m fine!” She shouts at her sister and J’onn and anyone within earshot who happens to ask her how she is. 

She is not fine.

She failed. 

Lena trusted her and she failed. 

Kara does everything she can to try to find Lena.

“Kara, she’s gone. There’s no way to find her. It’s not worth it.”

“Kara, she was a Luthor. She isn’t worth all this.”

“Kara, are you sure she isn’t manipulating you.”

She tells them all to leave her alone as she shoots into the sky and listens for any clue as to where Lena is. 

Lena is awake, well at least her body is. Her mind has been pushed aside and the device is controlling her. 

She wants to scream for help, but the more she tries, the more tired she gets. 

Metallo shows up a couple days later. 

Lillian has Lena stand on the very edge of the ledge, knowing that her daughter is terrified of heights. 

Her heart is covered by a thin layer of material and her bra is made out of lead to keep it from coming off when her body is told to fire. 

Kara is the first one to arrive, Kal is close behind her though. 

“Lena. This isn’t you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from that helicopter. Please let me save you now.”

Lena wants to cry out for help and fall into Supergirl's arms, but her mother makes her spout anti alien rhetoric. 

“You and your cousin must be stopped.”

She fires on Kara, hitting her right in the chest. 

Kara stands up and waves Kal off. 

She tries again. “Lena please! I can help you!”

“Aliens do not help, only hurt.”

Lena fires again. Kara is able to block it with her cape but she still feels the effects. 

Kal joins the fight by shooting Lena in the chest with his laser vision.

It burns away Lena’s shirt, but her heart remains intact. 

She meets his blast with one of her own. 

“Supergirl, take her down.”

“No. Lena, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Lena responds by sending another blast of Kryptonite her way. 

Kara is near unconsciousness when she shouts out, “No!”

Kal punches Lena without withholding strength. She falls to the ground, unconscious.

Kara soon follows. 

Lena wakes up in a DEO containment unit with three people staring at her. She examines the restraints she has been placed in. It looks like a lead straight jacket. Lena sits up slowly. 

“Where is supergirl?”

“She’s still recovering.” Alex says, her voice hard and her eyes slightly red. 

“You aren’t going anywhere near her again, Luthor.” Kal adds. 

“I don’t want to. Thank you for stopping me.”

Alex and Kal look slightly shocked at her confession. J’onn reads her mind and understands. 

“You were not in control.”

“No. I suspect mother placed something in my head to suppress my neural function.”

“It is off now, and there is a signal jammer in the cell.”

“I don’t think that will stop her but thank you anyway.”

“So, Luthor, tell me what it is that you are planning.”

“Well I had planned on renaming my company and rebranding to make it a force for good, but since I am locked up here, my CFO will have to take charge. Poor Sam.”

“That is not what I mean and you know it.” 

“I have no nefarious plans, but I know you will have a hard time believing that.”

“Moving on. How do we remove the Kryptonite from your heart?”

“I don’t think you can without killing me. Mother is very meticulous and if she went through all the trouble of getting Kryptonite and put it in me, she is going to make sure I can be controlled and the kryptonite isn’t going anywhere.”

“How did she get the Kryptonite? I've been destroying everything Ive been able to find.”

“I don’t know. When I woke up in that warehouse, no I don’t know where it is, the kryptonite was already in my chest. I didn’t have the chance to ask too many questions after I was strapped to a table and a chip was implanted in my head.”

“Okay, Luthor, since you know so much about your mother’s plans, why don’t you enlighten us?”

“Everything I’ve said so far has been speculation. Lillian doesn't care about me. She only uses people for her own personal gain and for destroying aliens because she believes they drove Lex crazy. She knows I don’t share the sentiment so she isn’t going to share her plans with me. When she was driving a scalpel through my chest, she told me that she was helping me. Please, I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Your act is good, but if you expect us to believe that…”

Alex’s phone chimes. “Supergirl is awake.” They all turn to leave the room. “I’ll be back for you Luthor.”

Kara wakes up in the DEO med bay. It isn’t the first time and it certainly won’t be the last. Alex, Kal and J’onn are standing there all looking at her with disappointed looks. 

“You should have stopped her, Kara.”

“I know.”

“She shouldn’t have been able to get that many hits in.”

“I know.”

“You knew she wasn’t herself?”

J’onn’s question stops Kara. 

“Uh yeah. I had a hunch because the Lena we met earlier wouldn’t have said those things.”

“Kara, Luthors are not to be trusted. You know how manipulative they can be. Please don’t fall for her act.”

“It’s not an act Kal, she was genuine.”

“I know you formed some sort of connection with her when we interviewed her, but you cannot blindly believe every word she says!” He is shouting by the end. “You see the best in people too easily, you are biased!

“Why can’t you just hear her out? Why are you judging her based on the actions of her brother? She is her own person!”

“They are all the same, Kara! They want to kill us and will manipulate anyone who will believe them. Lena is just like every other Luthor!”

“How can you claim that I am the biased one when you refuse to even hear her out?”

“She would’ve killed you on that bridge if I hadn’t been there because you weren’t fighting back!”

“You know, I’m actually still a little tired and it must be late. Can I go home and get some sleep?”

“No.” Alex says a little too harshly. Kara looks at her with tears in her eyes. She softens. “I’m sorry but you were hit with a lot of Kryptonite that was man made and we need to keep you in observation.”

“Ugh. Fine, but can I at least go back to sleep?”

“We’ll leave you alone.” J’onn ushers them out.

Kara pretends to be asleep, but she can hear Lena crying two floors below.

Alex refuses to leave for the night, but she does fall asleep which gives Kara the opportunity to sneak down to Lena’s cell. 

Lena is curled up in a ball, making herself as small as possible, rocking slightly and sobbing.

She doesn’t hear Kara come in.

After inputting a code, the cell opens with a woosh, and Kara walks in and crouches in front of Lena. 

“I’m sorry.” Lena doesn’t look up. “I wasn’t in control of myself. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from that helicopter.”

Lena nods. “You should leave. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m not going anywhere. I trust you, Lena.”

“You don’t even know me.” Lena looks up and adds, “Kara.”

Kara’s eyes widen and her mouth drops open. 

“Wh… how?”

“A pair of glasses isn’t the best disguise. I figured it out as you laid unconscious right before my mother had me dragged me away.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Please stop apologizing. You stopped the missile that was going to kill me for sure. I at least had a chance to survive the crash because of you.”

“Okay, Sorry.”

Lena shakes her head with a small smile. 

Kara is too enamored with Lena, she fails to notice her sister walking in. 

“Supergirl?! Get away from the prisoner!” Alex walks forward with her gun raised. 

“Alex, stand down. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“She was literally made to kill you. Get out of the cell!”

“Alex, please!”

“It’s okay,” Lena says so softly, only Kara hears her. 

“I’ll come back tomorrow and I won’t let them hurt you anymore,” Kara declares just as softly. 

Kara glares at her sister as she exits the cell. “What are you doing down here anyway?”

“I woke up and you weren’t in the sunbed. I figured you would sneak down here. What were you too talking about?”

“I’d be happy to answer any of your questions in the morning, agent…” 

“Danvers.”

Lena’s eyes widen, flashing to Kara and back. 

“Go back to bed, Supergirl.” Alex says loud. Softly she adds, “we’re going to talk about this later.”

Kara keeps coming back, day after day. She talks with Lena about CatCo and her family and about Krypton. Lena tells her about some of the good times she had when Lex was younger, but mostly just asks questions: how L-Corp is, if they caught Lillian yet. 

A week later, they are able to come up with a material that will replace the Kryptonite in her heart without any ill effects to her or Kara. After bringing the idea to the jonn and Alex, Kara and Winn are able to create the material under Lena’s watchful eye from behind the glass. The first thing Lena does once her heart is replaced is hug Kara without restraint. Alex still jumps for her gun, but Kara embraces her harder. 

“Thank you so much, Kara.”

“Sorry to break up this love fest, but there’s still the small issue of the implant in her brain.”

“Alex,” Kara sighs. 

“I actually had an idea about that.” Lena chuckles releasing Kara from her arms, much to Kara’s disappointment. “If the implant can receive a signal, it must operate on a transmittable wavelength. If we can find that,”

“We can disable any other signal from communicating with it. Smart.”

“Okay, nerds. I have to take this one back to her room.”

“Why?” Kara protests. Winn sneaks out of the room, not wanting to get involved in another sibling fight.

“K...Supergirl! We talked about this. It is for everyone’s safety that she stays in containment while the chip can still be activated.” Alex explains once again to Kara, but she looks to Lena.

Lena nods and moves to follow Alex. Kara stands in front of her and blocks the door to prevent Alex from coming back in.

“Supergirl! Open this door now.”

“Just a second!”

“What are you doing?” Lena asks.

“This isn’t right. You aren’t a danger to anyone. They shouldn’t be treating you like a villain.”

Lena steps forward and hugs Kara. In her ear, she whispers, “Thank you for trying to protect me, Kara.”

Lena kisses Kara on the cheek which shocks her enough to release her grip on the door, and Alex bursts in. 

“Come on Luthor.” Alex looks at Kara’s face which appears to be stuck in a shocked position. “What did you do to her?”

“I kissed her cheek.”

Alex waves her hand in front of Kara’s face. “Supegirl? Are you okay?”

Kara seems to realize that she isn’t alone and that Alex is trying to get her attention, but instead of answering, her face turns red and she speeds out of the room.

“You broke her,” Alex says bursting out laughing.

Alex and Lena have gotten to know each other well enough that they calmly walk back to the cell without restraints.

“So, do you have a crush on Supergirl?”

“It’s a little more than that,” Lena says softly.

“For what it’s worth, it’s obvious she likes you too.”

Kara does not return to the DEO until the next day when she sheepishly walks into Lena’s cell.

“How are you today, darling?”

Kara gets flustered once again, and Lena thinks she is going to bolt again. “I should be asking you that question.”

“There are no ill effects of my new heart. Thank you for that.”

“You and Winn figured it out. I just did the grunt work.”

“Kara, we never would have been able to stabilize the material if you hadn’t stepped in and did all of those complicated equations.”

Kara looks shocked, but for a completely different reason this time.

“What?” Lena asks once it becomes clear Kara isn’t going to say anything.

“I learned those when I was 8. Were they really that complicated to you?”

“I could follow it, but yeah, Kara that was way beyond anything anyone has ever done on earth.”

“Whoops.”

Lena chuckles. 

Suddenly, she stops. Her back straightens and Kara recognizes what is going on, holding her down and calling for help. Alex, Jonn, Vasquez and Kara are able to strap Lena down to the bed and administer a sedative before any real damage can occur. Alex glances at Kara.

“Don’t say it.” Kara storms off, taking flight once she reaches the balcony.

She flies around, listening to Lena’s steady mechanical heartbeat. She can’t see her because of the lead lined walls of the DEO. Kal finds her sitting on the roof at CatCo. 

“Hey. I heard what happened.”

“If you are just here to tell me I told you so, you can…”

“I’m not. I want to, but I’m here to tell you that I’m going to head back home.”

“I’m gonna miss you Kal, you have to visit more often.” Kara says pulling him into a hug that would crush anyone else. 

“Please be careful.”

“I will.” 

Kal takes off. Moments later Alex calls her. 

“Is she okay?”

“The chip is deactivated again, but she is still sedated while the drugs wear off.” Alex pauses to allow Kara to reply, but when she doesn’t she says, “She is probably going to want you to be there when she wakes up.”

“I’ll be there.”

Kara flies to get postickers for her friends at the DEO. She immediately finds Alex when she lands. 

“Hey.”

“Hey, did Kal find you?”

“Yeah. He already left.”

“Are all those potstickers for you?”

“Of course not. I brought enough for everyone.”

“Great, come on, let’s go to Lena’s room.”

“Thank you.”

“Come on, love bird.”

Kara rolls her eyes but follows Alex down to the containment unit. 

“Winn is going to join us once he finishes his project.”

“What is he working on?”

“A way to disable Lena’s chip remotely.”

Kara perks up. “And?”

“When I left him, he was yelling at his computer.”

“That good?”

Alex sighs as she opens the door. Lena restrained as she lay on the hard bed in the cell. 

“Why is she restrained? She’s unconscious.”

“We don’t know if she is going to be in control of herself when she wakes up. Once we know the chip is no longer active, we can take them off.”

“Good.”

“Let’s eat. She’ll wake up soon enough.”

“Okay.”

They dive into the potstickers.

“So, Kara, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you and Lena?”

“What?”

“Are you in love with her?”

“What? No. I mean, she is gorgeous, sure, but I’m not gay, Alex.”

“Are you sure about that?” Alex asks with her brow raised.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you seem to like Lena a lot more than just as friends.”

“What would I even do if I did? She is locked up here with a chip in her head and an artificial heart all because I couldn’t save her and her mother got a hold of her.”

“We are going to get the chip out and she isn’t going to be locked up forever. Maybe you could just try to give her a chance because maybe she likes you too.”

Winn walks in.

“Hey guys.”

“Did you figure it out?”

“I got a lead on a trace for the source of the transmission for the chip. The program is running right now, and it’ll notify me when it comes up with the location.”

“Good. She should be waking up any minute now.”

“I think I could use her help with this if she is… you know, herself?”

“We have every hope that she will be herself, and I know she is going to be a big help.” Alex says.

“She is a genius.” Kara says softly.

“Yeah, she is.” Winn agrees.

“I’m glad you all think so highly of me.” Lena’s voice carries across the room.

“Lena!” Kara flies across the room to the glass.

“I didn’t hurt anyone this time, right?”

“No. We were able to stop you before you could do anything.”

“Thank you.”

Alex opens the cell. “I’m going to check your vitals before I let Supergirl take the restraints off. Okay?”

“You can leave the restraints on. We don’t know when this might happen again.”

“No, Lena. You aren’t dangerous.” Kara kneels down beside the bed. As close to Lena as Alex will let her go.

“Your vitals are good, as normal as they can be for you.”

“Thank you.” Lena says, and as soon as the words are out of her mouth, Kara rips the restraints off of her and hugs her as tight as she is comfortable.

“Did you have to rip the handcuffs?”

“Sorry.” Kara at least has the decency to look ashamed as she pulls away from Lena. 

“That food looks good.”

“I got your favorite. The weird vegetarian thing.”

“Thank you Kara.”

Winn and Alex freeze. Kara shoves another dumpling in her mouth and Lena takes a bite of her meal, not realizing the significance of what Lena just said.

“Supergirl, may I speak with you outside for a moment?”

“Sure Alex. What’s up?” Kara asks as soon as they are out of the room.

“You told her who you are?”

“What? No. She has known since the crash.”

“Kara! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? We need J’onn to mind wipe her.”

“No! That is not happening. She is my friend. She isn’t going to tell anyone, and even if she wanted to, she is locked up here with no contact with anyone.”

Alex sighs. “Okay.”

They walk back in. “Luthor, if you hurt my sister in any way including revealing her identity, I will rip your new heart out.”

“Alex!” Kara shouts scandalously.

“It’s okay, Kara. I have no intention of hurting her or revealing her identity. My heart is safe.”

Kara just stares at Lena with love in her eyes. 

“Do you two have to make heart eyes right in front of my dumplings?” Alex states more than asks.

They make small talk until Winn’s phone chimes.

“My program found something!”

“Let’s go.”

Lena walks back to her cell. 

“We’ll be back soon, Lena.” Kara says sadly as Alex closes the door.

“I understand, Kara.”

Winn, Alex and Kara leave the room and check on the new development. They are able to narrow the location down and are about to send in every available unit. Kara runs down to Lena’s cell.

“We are going to take them down now, Lena. This will all be over soon.”

“Please be careful and don’t underestimate Lillian.”

“I’ll always come back to you, Lena.” Kara declares placing her hand against the glass. Lena does the same.

The raid goes down with few surprises. The DEO agents take care of most of the Cadmus agents on their own while Kara, Alex and J’onn search for Lillian and her cyborg. 

Alex manages to get any equipment that could be used against Kara away from Lillian. J’onn and Hank battle it out shooting into the sky. Kara confronts Lillian.

“How do you deactivate the chip?!” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Supergirl.” Lillian says confidently.

Kara fires a blast of her heat vision right beside Lillian’s head, cracking her confident facade.

“How could you do that to your own daughter?”

“I saved her life! Something you failed to do!”

“You turned her into a mindless monster! That’s not saving her!”

“It seems like you actually care about her, Supergirl.” Kara breaks slightly, but Lillian picks up on it. “Well in that case, you should just kill her quickly and get it over with.”

“Wh...I’m not going to kill her!”

“Then she will kill you. There is no way to remove the chip without killing her. You can’t stop Cadmus.”

Kara sees red. She lands punch after punch on Lillian even after she is exposed to a hidden stash of Kryptonite. She fights through the pain of her broken hand. Alex calls for her to stop, but nothing gets through to her. Then a familiar hand is placed on Kara’s arm as it is rising for another hit. 

“Kara, it’s okay. You stopped her.” Lena says softly so only Kara can hear her.

Kara collapses in Lena’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably cradling her broken hand. Once Kara regains control of herself, she asks, “What are you doing here? Isn’t it too dangerous for you to be here?”

“You are more important. If you had killed her, it would have destroyed you.”

“What if she activates the chip?”

“She can’t,” Alex calls. “Winn just confirmed that the deactivation code was found among the files here.”

Kara and Lena sigh in relief. 

“You are safe.” Kara says softly.

In the following weeks, Lena undergoes advanced Kryptonian surgery to remove the chip using nanobots. 

She is finally released from the DEO, and has to face the wrath of the press. Kara is right beside her as both Supergirl and Kara, telling the press the story that Lena was in witness protection until her mother and Cadmus could be taken down with her help. 

Lena makes improvements to her heart with the help of Kara’s advanced knowledge. 

Kara and Lena go on an actual date, and enter into a relationship. Alex is annoyed at their public displays of affection but happy for them.

“You are my heart.” Lena says with a kiss.

“You are my weakness.” Kara counters with another kiss.

“Y'all make me nauseous.” Alex pops her head around the corner, fake gagging.


End file.
